Tuesday, January 29, 2013

One aspect we admire of those “Heroes of the Faith,” is the
response they had to increasingly difficult circumstances in their lives.The result of their decisions was a stronger
faith in God and a higher degree of influence on the people around them.They became leaders.

Read:Genesis 15:1-6,
17:1-8, 18:9-15 and 21:1-7.

1.What did
God promise Abraham and what was the desire of Abraham’s heart?

2.What very real and physical obstacle stood in
the way of God’s promise and Abraham’s dream?

3.Abraham had a lot of questions for God.His questions revealed some intellectual
doubt, but Abraham always acted in faith.What are some of the first questions you had regarding faith in Jesus
Christ?

4.God’s faithfulness in the past was the basis for
Abraham’s trust in God and the expansion of his faith.Can you name some ways God has been faithful
to you in the past?

5.Have you ever acted in faith, even though you
had some doubts?What was the outcome?

6.How has God’s faithfulness caused your faith to
grow?

7.We know from the Scriptures (Genesis 16:16) that
Abraham was younger than eighty-six when God first made His promises to
Abraham.Abraham was one-hundred years
old when Isaac, the son of promise, was born (Genesis 21:5).Fourteen years to wait for a child would be
difficult in what we commonly think of as “the child bearing years.”Can you imagine what it must have felt like
at Abraham’s age?How do you think
Abraham continued to believe God’s promise through that long time until His
promise was fulfilled?

8.What would it be like to be a friend of
Abraham?How would he influence you?

9.Do you have an “Abraham” in your life?That is, is there someone who has faced trial
after trial but has responded in a stronger faith in God through each
circumstance?How has their faith
influenced yours?

10.In Life Groups we commit to building
relationships with people who are on a faith journey with Christ.You may or may not know the others in your
group in the beginning, but as you study God’s Word and pray together you will
find that the sense of community will encourage your faith.What kind of “blessing of faith,”
(example:may you see an answer to prayer this week) would you like to give
this group today?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

We are on the last of three weeks where each person in the
group has an opportunity to tell “their story.”Before we hear from more group members, let’s take a look at someone’s
story from the book of Exodus.A little
background:This baby boy was born
during a tumultuous time for the Hebrew people.They were being persecuted in the land of Egypt and they were commanded
to put every newborn Hebrew son to death.However, the Hebrew midwives feared God more than the officials so they
did not obey their gruesome orders and allowed the baby boys to live.One such boy was Moses.He ended up being adopted by the Pharaoh’s
daughter and a lot of interesting things happened.(You can catch up on all these happenings in
Exodus 1 and 2).But for our time
together today, let’s read Exodus 3:1-9 Exodus 4:10-17.

1.What was
Moses doing as he was just “minding his business,” when he came upon a burning
bush?

2.Why do you think God chose this time to appear
to Moses?

3.When you think of times you are just “minding
your business,” what are you doing in those times?

4.In what times has God caught your
attention?What proceeded that time when
you were at a place where you recognized that God was speaking to your heart?

5.In Exodus 4:10-13 Moses tries arguing with God
and ends by asking God to please send someone else.Has God ever put a desire or task into your
heart to perform, and you really thought someone else would do a much better
job?Can you relate to Moses?Did you accept your assignment or are you in
the process of accepting your assignment, or did you run the other way?

Now, let’s hear from some of our group members.Here are the three questions:

·Who have been three special people in your life?

·What three are noteworthy events in your life?

·What are three places in your life that stand
out in your mind?

When everyone has finished sharing, have the leader, or
anyone else who wishes to pray, thank the Lord specifically for the special
people in the lives of the group members.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

In the seventies Elton John’s music filled up the pop air
waves and one of his hits was ‘Your Song’ which in part said,

“My gift is my
song, and this one's for you.And you
can tell everybody this is your song.It
may be quite simple, but now that it's done… I hope you don't mind, I hope you
don't mind that I put down in words, how wonderful life is while you're in the
world.”

This week we are talking about perhaps not 'your song', but we
are focusing on 'your story'.Let’s read a
little about a very interesting person in history whose name was John the
Baptist.

Read Mark 1:1-8.

1.John appeared on the scene from what country and
from what kind of land?

2.What was typical style of dress?

3.What was unusual about John’s diet?

4.What was John’s vocation?

Read Luke 1:13-14 and Luke 1:57-66.

5.Make five observations from these verses.

6.What were some unusual circumstances surrounding
John’s birth and vocation?

7.How did these unique factors influence the kind
of person John became?

This week we are going to ask a few more individuals in the
group to casually share part of their life stories.We are asking each person to think about
three questions.

·Who have
been three special people in your life?

·What three
are noteworthy events in your life?

·What are
three places in your life that stand out in your mind?

Please have a leader close in prayer with special thanks for
every person who has attended your Life Group today, and ask a special blessing
on each person who shared their story today.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The next eight Bible Studies correspond to our Group Link event that starts at our church Sunday, January 13th. Group questions will be available on this blog and in the Sunday bulletin.

It is suggested that at your first meeting you either enjoy
a meal (something as simple as pizza or soup and bread), or a dessert together.

Sharing a meal has always had social implications.We like sharing a meal with those we like or
those we want to get to know.First
dates are often enjoyed over a meal.We have
something constructive to do in awkward pauses – take another bite of food and
smile.I grew up in a family of six
children on a one-parent income.Consequently in the early years we did not eat in restaurants very
often.On a first date to a high school
dance, with a young man who had a little more opportunity in his upbringing to
frequent fancy restaurants, I had an awkward moment.When the waiter in white gloves presented a
beautiful tray with silverware on it to me, I instinctively took the tray from
him thinking he needed somebody to hold it for a moment.Just trying to be helpful…oops.

1.What is
your most awkward moment involving food?

Read Acts 2:42-47.Have a couple of group members read different versions of the
Bible for this passage.

2.In which two verses do the believers in the
early church find themselves eating a meal together?

3.The New Living Translation titles this section
‘The Believers Form a Community.’How
does eating together help form a community?

4.Why do you think eating together was a practice along with spiritual disciplines such as teaching, fellowship and prayer?

5.World-wide and for centuries, eating together is
a great way to get to know another person.One of the goals of these eight weeks of study is to get to know the
other people in your Life Group.Starting next week, and for a total of three weeks, we are going to ask
each person in the group to casually share part of their life stories.We are asking each person to think about
three questions.

·Who have been three special people in your life?

·What three are noteworthy events in your life?

·What are three places in your life that stand
out in your mind?

We are asking you to sign up
tonight for which week you will share your life story.After three weeks everyone’s story should
have been shared and we will move on to the next part of our study.We will have some warm-up questions for the
beginning of each study and then individuals can share their stories.

6.Please have a leader close in prayer with
special thanks for every person who has attended your Life Group today.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

For the New Year, or at any time you want to get started, it is helpful to have a Bible Reading Program to have a systematic way to stay immersed in God's Word. There are many online from which to choose.

I found the following one, and have been using it for about ten weeks now. The strong suit is that it keeps one in many places in the Bible over the course of a week. Some days area a little more or a little less, but it is definitely "doable."

Life Groups

Life Groups at Hydesville Community Church are comprised of close-knit groups of believers or seekers who seeking to know who Jesus Christ is and what does He mean to our everyday lives? Groups typically meet weekly and more often than not in people's homes. It's a place for friendship, fellowship, studying the Bible together, praying, and participating in acts of service in our community.